TubaForum.net

Picked up this cool little horn this weekend:



(pic is from the seller before they replaced the valve springs)

Super fun little tuba, nice false tones, valve plating 100%, hardly a dent or ding besides some splotchy lacquer. Needs new bell screws (currently sporting ill-fitting/too-large-thread King).

Not sure what I am going to do with it yet -- probably will do some outdoor concerts with it to close out the summer. 20 pounds or so, almost as light as my 36K.

IMO, Eb tubas are the most fun to play/goof around on. Nimble-yet-punchy.

If those bell screw receiver flanges are still the original thread, it's a goofy thread.

I may be remembering wrong, but maybe (??) Ferrees has screws to fit...but I'd be tempted to tap out to to 1/4 x 20.

might be one of these two thread sizes they offer...

C75KB 1/4-28 thread (brass)
C75KN 1/4-28 thread (nickel)

C75LB 1/4-24 thread (brass)
C75LN 1/4-24 thread (nickel)

I have a cut-apart-valveset one of those sousaphones in a box. and was going to splice on another casing from another Olds/Reynolds instrument, but - when Dave Secrist retired (as a rebuild was also going to be part of that) - that job immediately defined itself as out of the question.

I have a Holton Eb sousa of the same vintage. Full circle.

It is honestly so much fun to play. False tones are great.1+3 Bb slots super easy and doesn't sound stuffy or weak at all. 1+2+3 A below the staff is unplayable though. Feel like it weighs half as much a my Holton Collegiate BBb sousa.

Use it for a regular trad Jazz Jam, and sometime for street band stuff if I know there is someone else showing up to cover the low stuff.


Foam padddng is for my wife's delicate shoulder.

The Reynolds looks like it has more pull on the main slide. I've only got about an inch.

Very true on the nimble and punchy. I loved my little Martin Eb helicon, but it just lacked the horsepower for the groups I played with. It was a lot of fun to play though! The bore was around 0.620 if I remember right. I've never played a full-circle Eb sousaphone, though. Have fun!

sarcasm:

I've always thought that the best thing to do with E-flat sousaphones would be to cut them to F, as

- it would be difficult, and
- what 3-valve E-flat sousaphones need - more than anything - is more limits, regarding the low range.